A New Bureaucracy is Born

How much does it cost to open one of ObamaCare’s state-run health exchanges? In California, the answer is nearly $910 million and counting.

Obamacare failed because too many carriers simply can't cover expenses, let alone turn a profit, in this rigidly controlled system. Take Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois, the state's dominant Obamacare insurer. Last year, for every dollar the carrier collected, it spent $1.32 buying care and providing services for customers, according to BCBS President Maurice Smith. -Chicago Tribune Editorial Board

We all know we need regulations for safety and health care. But do America hospitals really need 140,000 different regulatory codes for the ailments they treat, including one for injuries from being hit by a turtle? -Peter Kareiva

"We don't think government can do everything," he said. "We don't think that top-down solutions are the right way to go. We believe in the free market. We believe in a light touch when it comes to regulations." -Barack Obama

President Obama admitted to business executives in a speech on Tuesday his administration will need to “rebrand and re-market” the Affordable Care Act. Speaking at a forum sponsored by the Wall Street Journal, he confessed that he "underestimated the complexities" of building an online marketplace to sell healthcare insurance.

John Koskinen, the commissioner of the IRS, told Congress that customer service at the tax collection agency is going to suffer thanks to Obamacare... Koskinen said that the IRS had to shift tens of millions of dollars away from customer service to building new computer systems that will help the agency answer questions about the tax penalties associated with Obamacare.

Employees at an ObamaCare processing center in Missouri with a contract worth $1.2 billion are reportedly getting paid to do nothing but sit at their computers. “Their goals are set to process two applications per month and some people are not even able to do that,” a whistleblower told KMOV-TV, referring to employees hired to process paper applications for ObamaCare enrollees... “They’re told to sit at their computers and hit the refresh button every 10 minutes, no more than every 10 minutes,” the employee said. “They’re monitored, to hopefully look for an application.”

In the latest indication of how complicated putting the Affordable Care Act into action will be, the Department of Health and Human Services and Internal Revenue Service issued 18-pages of regulations just to describe what a "full-time employee" is.

President and founder of Subway Fred Deluca described some of the challenges payroll tax increases and Obamacare have presented small business franchisee owners Wednesday on CNBC. Deluca said the number one issue facing Subway franchisee owners is how Obamacare will impact their expenses, noting any increase in costs will be passed along to the consumer through higher prices. Additionally, when asked about the modern business climate for young entrepreneurs, the Subway founder stated “Subway would not exist” if he started it today due to onerous government regulations.

Setting up insurance exchanges — the centerpiece of President Obama's healthcare reform law — is costing the Health and Human Services Department a whole lot more than it originally expected. According to budget documents released Wednesday, the department expects to spend $4.4 billion on exchange grants to the states by the end of this year — double its estimates a year ago.

In a little-noticed speech to the Iowa Republican Party this month, Kentucky Republican Senator Rand Paul mocked President Obama's signature health care overhaul, noting the 122,000 new medical diagnostic codes doctors will have to use in order to inform the government about injuries sustained by Americans. Those codes, said Sen. Paul, a medical doctor himself, include line-items for 'injuries sustained from a turtle', 'walking into a lamppost' and 'injuries sustained from burning water skis.'

Under President Obama’s 2010 health law, the government officials in charge of keeping Medicaid afloat have until Tuesday to report whether costs for the fiscally foundering program will exceed expectations. But they won’t have anywhere to send their report. That’s because the Independent Payment Advisory Board – perhaps the most controversial entity created under Obama’s law – still doesn’t exist.

Tens of thousands of health care professionals, union workers and community activists hired as "navigators" to help Americans choose Obamacare options starting Oct. 1 could earn $20 an hour or more, according to new regulations issued Wednesday... It is still not clear how many navigators will be required. California, however, provides a hint. It wants 21,000. That could be an expensive proposition. The proposed rules, now open for public comment, suggest an estimated pay of $20-$48 an hour.

It is amazing that people who think we cannot afford to pay for doctors, hospitals, and medication somehow think that we can afford to pay for doctors, hospitals, medication and a government bureaucracy to administer it. -Thomas Sowell

Applying for benefits under President Barack Obama's health care overhaul could be as daunting as doing your taxes. The government's draft application is now on the Internet. It runs 15 pages for a three-person family. The online version has 21 steps, some with added questions. At least three major federal agencies, including the IRS, will scrutinize your application. That's just the first part of the process, which lets you know if you qualify for financial help.

The Obama administration on Friday released more than 700 pages of new regulations to implement portions of the Affordable Care Act. The four rules, which are scheduled for publication in mid-March, finalize both major and minor parts of the healthcare reform law that Congress passed in 2010.

The federal government will likely be involved in running the ObamaCare exchange in at least 30 states, 26 of which expressly declined to establish state exchanges. One health-policy expert refers to it as an "administrative nightmare" for the Department of Health and Human Services. Friday was the deadline for a state to let HHS know if it planned to establish a state exchange. Thus far only 18 states and the District of Columbia are planning on doing so.

It took the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) 159 pages to explain one new Obamacare tax on investments that will be used to pay for Obamacare. Only individuals and families making more than $200,000 and $250,000, respectively, will be impacted by the tax, which “applies to a broad range of investment securities ranging from stocks and bonds to commodity securities and specialized derivatives.”